


BBC Merlin: Redux   Episode 2

by I_Met_A_Girl



Series: BBC Merlin: Redux [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Blood and Violence, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Everyone knows about Merlin's magic, Humor, M/M, Merlin gives no fucks, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, but like it's so cartoony don't even worry about it, retro crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Met_A_Girl/pseuds/I_Met_A_Girl
Summary: This week on BBC Merlin: Redux! To Merlin's memory, their next dangerous encounter will be Valiant, the tournament contestant cheating with magic and out for blood. But has the timeline already strayed off if word gets around that Prince Arthur has a mythic protector? The kingdom wonders who is this mystery man. Merlin just wants friends.-nonexistent intro title logo-INDEFINITE HIATUS
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: BBC Merlin: Redux [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600873
Comments: 184
Kudos: 336





	1. Cold Open: A Snake in the Grass

On a sunny day perfect for practicing for the upcoming tournament, the knights stand on guard at the training field just outside the castle, shooting each other wary looks in the presence of the... person... called Merlin. They do their best to give full attention to their prince's words, but there is a distracting undercurrent of curiosity as they all steal glaces at the fugitive in broad daylight not but a few paces from Prince Arthur himself.

The knights have not dared conjuncture amongst themselves, but by god do they want to.

A guardian angel and an omen of a holy war to come under Arthur's rule.

“Arthur please no.”

A _Fairy_ who owes Prince Arthur a debt

“So Merlin says during the tournament, it's likely Sir Valiant will try to cheat with an enchanted shield so,”

or maybe who wants to keep _their Prince_ as a _pet_.

“A different shield, Arthur! A venomous snake shield.”

A childhood playmate of the Prince who went on a journey years ago for power,

“So today we are going to train against a magical shield in preparation...”

and if you see him unclothed,

you will know what he gave up in exchange

“Hitting me will not prepare you for snake venom! If the timeline is the same as it was -”

**A sorcerer of the Olde Religion like any other whose unknown motives make him all the more dangerous**

"Suit yourself." Arthur shrugs to say he's done talking and ready to get hitting. "Body!" He takes a swing, and rather than counter Merlin ducks. 

"I'm not a knight," he whines, as if that had ever stopped Arthur.

"Head!" he swings again, and Merlin positively squeaks as he manifests his shield. "Shield! Head, body, block, shield, block!" 

"Ow! Ow. Ow. _Ow._ Ow! Ow, Arthur!"

a wimp!!

we were afraid of this guy? it's all part of the act  
yeah that's gotta be it

I don't know guys don't let your guard down yet

"Come on, Merlin, look alive! How are you going to "protect" me cowering like a little girl?"

"This isn't fun for me, you sadist!"

He's a total wimp!!


	2. new Timeline who dis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shocker of shocks, the tournament is cancelled, meaning Valiant is no longer a threat, at least for now. Arthur is heavily guarded, his dad is very bothered. Merlin has a to-do list, and as always, is just doing his best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof this chapter is so short for a non-joke chapter. Sorry for that. Really I just needed to post SOMETHING to make sure I keep going. I have the rest outlined, so don't worry about this going nowhere. I AM a major procrastinator, though, so that worry is completely founded. I think this chapter may be a bit extra OOC? I hope it doesn't bother anyone that Arthur is a bit more of a baby in this than usual. And most of the chapter is just a list of stuff Merlin owns. But it's a fun list!

In the Great Hall, King Uther sits at his throne and makes an announcement to the court. "I have decided it best to postpone the tournament indefinitely."

Morgana steps forward, a crease on her brow. "So close to the date? Why at this point the message may not reach until the contestants have already left for Camelot." It's a valid concern. Moreover, some of the more difficult noble houses may find a way to see this as their king mocking them and imagining some conspiracy that the plan was to cancel it from the start just so Uther could make show of his power on their lives with his word law. Not that anyone needed a reminder of the man's unchecked control. "Why have you made this decision now?"

"Because," Uther looks to Arthur, whose eyes are cast downwards and who shows no intention of speaking against his father's decision or asking his reasoning, "There is a magic user performing sorcery in the heart of Camelot, and I can only imagine the reason my son has failed to apprehend the known culprit is because said culprit has bewitched him."

Arthur's look of shame turned to one of shock at that. "Bewitched?!" Also mortification. " _Mer_ lin hasn't b- _bewitched_ me."

"Silence, Arthur." Uther's calm dismissal had him stepping back in line on instinct. Why is it Morgana gets away with saying whatever she likes, but the moment Arthur so much as looks the wrong direction, he's a disappointment? "It is clear to _all_ that you are presently compromised due to this Merlin. I assure the court that once the sorcerer is dead, his spell will break. Until that point, the Crown Prince shall be escorted at all times." He nods to Leon, captain of the guard and most senior knight. "I trust it to you to have two guards watching Arthur at any given time and to bring this man in to justice."

 _Father!_ Arthur wants to interject. He understands what is being said; he is essentially put under house arrest, the entire court has been told his opinion is valueless, and to top it off it's been implied that Arthur has been, gag-worthy just to think, _seduced._ How little does his father think of him? Well that's not a question he'd like to ask, lest he goes down a rabbit hole. He figures he should worry about Merlin as well, seeing as his father plans on putting him to death, but that can't be new for Merlin. 

Arthur knows these guards. These are the ones who are, well, they hold the breed of merits of which the importance he and his father disagree, and that is the most Arthur will say about it. Besides, it is possible that his dislike is due to personal bias, as Arthur never trained their rank. Arthur recognizes that personal bias should not affect how he views those employed under him if it has little to do with the quality of their work, however, they are not helping themselves with this current arrangement. 

Sat in between the two, who are too close for comfort much less respect, Arthur seethes. Though his outward expression is a trained neutral, only the most socially awkward, inept, incompetent, pitiful idiot could miss his true feelings. 

Speaking of Merlin - he's keeping his distance. It's actually pretty disappointing. So much for "the drama"; this would be a perfect chance to show just how much he respects anyone's authority and just how much he cares about hiding himself. On the contrary, Arthur only sees him for brief seconds out of the corner of his eye. Any time he turns to meet his stare, the other looks panicked and fades out of existence. He's such a creepy little stalker child. Everything about this situation is annoying.

Guards are tailing him. Merlin's tailing him. He has nothing to do. He's just being _watched_ by people all the time. No one lets him do anything. He is so goddamn BORED and antsy and on edge from being persisted like prey that he's actually WISHING Merlin would come pull some dumb shit just to break all this tension in the air. 

But he's a prince. He can handle a tense atmosphere for weeks on end. He survived every family meeting in his life. He is a prince. He can handle boredom. He survived every meeting, every speech, every event. He is a prince. He can remain stoic. He can live his life under a microscope without squirming. Isn't that just child stardom in a nutshell? Oh god though! He's a _prince._ He's used to people listening to him. He's used to people leaving if he says leave. He's used to being able to go outside and get some energy out, to fight and train and hunt and lightheartedly torment civilians with throwing knives. Stupid manservant sorcerer. This is all his fault. And - fuck! There he's gone again. 

_Come back, you coward!_ He considers pointing out his position to the guards. 

An apple falls out of a tree and hits the guard on his right in the nose. The _maple_ tree. 

Fine. He'll let Merlin go once again. But being treated like a child is really killing his spirit. 

* * *

**_Merlin's day planner:_ **

_\- check on Arthur every now and again throughout the day  
_ _\- contemplate how quickly the timeline has changed already and how this may affect which is the next danger he should prepare for as well as fallback plans for new, unforeseeable ones  
_ _\- win over Gwen so I don't have to ~~literally~~ figuratively **die  
**_ _\- hang out with Gaius too! I love him  
_ _\- write to mom and tell her absolutely do not come to Camelot and to instead send a message if she needs help  
_ _\- dragon  
_ _\- translate another chapter of that textbook  
_ _\- look through the storage pocket dimension  
_ _i. I gave up on understanding the whole "time is irrelevant when it is a separate dimension" thing forever ago; maybe reopen that  
_ _a. if you feel the onset of madness, stop immediately and ask a doctor about if physics is right for you_  
 _ii. see if I have anything useful for this time in there (I didn't exactly pack beforehand)_

_I likely won't be able to get everything done today, but it's good to try my best._

Merlin starts with the last point. Close your eyes and visualize. His body stays on Earth, but he can see the storage room. In it, his thoughts come out as echos around him. It used to be very disconcerting; now it's just annoying. 

"Fashion through the ages, and nothing to wear today. The Victorian era had style. 1920s. Aw, the 1770s! There's no menswear with color anymore." He picks out a fog watch and drops it into reality to wear. "Normal dress shirts would work during this time, right? They work in any time. But I am trying to stand out. Maybe dressing from all different decades would work out. The 1980s! I can't believe I saved ANYTHING from then." Truly, the only thing he saved was a windbreaker, but it is a very 80s windbreaker. 

"Ok ok I have clothes, no need to get stuck here."

In his mind, he turns around, and like in a lucid dream, the endless room's contents change. 

He smiles at the row of typewriters through the ages and a satisfied hum bounces off the theoretical walls. Listed under each one is a date, starting in the late 1800s and ending as early as the third millennium. So he's in the tech corner then. "Sewing kit - good. Tangled ball of chords and chargers - useless without electricity. Ditto on all laptops and game consoles. Ditto on cellphones - also no service. Fireworks - cute. Loom - don't remember getting this but good. Man this place is less organized than I remember. Typewriters got a place of honor and everything else was just put in a pile. Oh! Oh oh oh it's that little hiker's solar panel! I totally forgot I bought this, and I was so excited at the time, too. Ok, scratch the no electronics thing. I can inefficiently charge whatever I have a compatible chord for. Nice."

"One of the original lightbulbs - useless, only kept for novelty purposes. No sleeping bags or water filters or anything camping related, because I am an idiot." Over the years, he had happily become a home body who avoids camping trips, you see. Quite surprising for someone attuned with nature, yet also completely expected. "A bike - would be useful if the olden days were paved, but as it is not, at best I can use it for parts if I can stand to get rid of it." Emotional attachment is as much a reason to put something into storage as convenient access. However, as it is not convenient to just drop a car on the pavement, that is back in "present" day on an actual street.

Present day. "Present" day. 

"Why is this stuff here? I hadn't even learned to make a pocket dimension back then.. now. I didn't even know you could. Maybe it's a place outside of time. But then, no, if it were, I wouldn't just have what I collected until now. I would have anything I collected in the future as well. There should be tech from the year 3084 lying around if that's the case. Maybe it's tied not to any outside construct of time but to my personal experience of time. But no! Because I came back on _my own_ timeline so it shouldn't even exist yet. AURGGG it's all so confusing I feel my brain leaking out my ears just thinking about it - and I had to grapple with the concept of eternal life." 

It doesn't occur to him that   
just maybe  
Nothing is from a time he has yet to experience, because this time he wins. 

"Potion ingredients, medical supplies, every book I have ever bought and every notebook I have ever filled - all useful, all too much to take detailed inventory of today. Stapler. Good."

"Just a pile of cool rocks. Just a dragon hoard of rocks I think are neat. Useless but so very pleasing." He picks up a rock with a shiny orange stripe and holds it so he can see the sparkles. Content little smile to carry for the day. "It's the little comforts." Just saying that prompts his miniature world to shift, and then Merlin is wrapped up cozy in a hundred blankets, each with sentimental value. It's a whole fort. So big and soft and toasty. Merlin could stay here forever. If only he could bring his body with him to storage. He would lie down right here and cuddle up and never leave.

But he's not, and he can't, and this is a waste of time. Annoyed little pout to carry for the day. 

"Snacks- good. Water bottles - very good, probably the best almost definitely. Soda - yeah ok. Alcohol cellar - not too useful but not _not_ useful. Ingredients, good, but no kitchenware as far as I can tell. Man, I should have but a full kitchen in here. That would be so neat, to just look like I'm spacing out for hours and then suddenly - bam, perfectly cooked family meal. I can conjure strawberries and shit but no witch or wizard born could ever conjure pancake mix and chocolate chips, so for this stock I am grateful. Oh shoot! Like anyone's gonna let use the kitchen. Ugly bitchass cooks. Oh shit, did I just think that? I'm sorry chefs. I'm sorry walls. I didn't mean it."

"Printer paper but no printer. I'm stupid. No, Merlin, you're not stupid. You just weren't told you were going on a trip to the first millennium, that's all. Am I really reassuring _myself_? God I am so awful."

The space filled with multiple voices of Merlin, reverberating off the walls, fighting for attention, echoing louder and softer and so constantly that they were indecipherable. Merlin's self hatred. All of it. From the survivor guilt to body image to endless remorse for every witnessed genocide to every perceived slight and embarrassing memory. It was all there. Merlin opens his eyes and leaves the storage room immediately. Now without the audio enhancement, he can chastise himself silent as he likes for making such a basic mistake: don't think about anxious things in a dimension that literally brings to you whatever you are thinking about. A place that is literally only accessible through his head. It's stupid. So stupid it's gonna kickstart his self-loathing for real. No, no, not the time for that. Busy day, must compartmentalize. 

Onward to Gaius! 


	3. For all Intents and Purposes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin makes friends with the knights. Friends isn't a strong word, right? Casual friends are a thing. It's all totally ok.

Arthur is not allowed to hang out with the knights. But Merlin is! ...Well, no. He's not really all that welcome here... But no one has told him to leave! Pff, that's because no one is talking to him at all. He's just gotta give it some time, right? Merlin is slowly deflating, a bit of air being let out of him every time someone avoids his gaze. He misses Gwaine. If Gwaine were here, everyone would be far more lively. Now everyone is _polite_ , and it's _disgusting._

"Aw, come on, guys," he sets in an practiced whine to pair with the irresistible doe eyes, "What chores do I have to do to win you over?" He stretches and nicks a sword from behind him. Suddenly all swords are up! Everyone is turned to him at the ready. "Shit." He sets it down next to him slowly and carefully and puts his hands up in a sign of surrender. Two knights exchange glances. _Unprofessional. They should be standing at attention unless Leon says otherwise._ Merlin does not actually care. Just an observation. He bends down slowly, keeping on hand up and eye contact the full time so they can see blue irises the whole time, and picks a rag up off the ground. He straightens on the bench and puts the sword in his lap. "I was just going to clean this." He looks down, shrugs, and starts doing exactly that, hunched over and trying his darnedest to focus. People are still staring. 

"Guys, while this is arguably better than you pretending I don't exist, staring at me rigid with gross fascination still makes me feel very unwanted."

"We don't want you!" a younger squire cries. Merlin's face twists just for a second before reconfiguring into nonchalance. 

People noticed. 

"I think we could all be great friends," Merlin tries. "And even if we can't be as close as then, we still ought to _try_ to be friends. We'll be spending a lot of time together for the next decade or so, so you'll at least have to get used to me at the very, very, very least."

"What are your intentions with our prince?"

"What?" Merlin's head shoots up. It was positively a squeak, his mouth dropped open in shock and paling with panic in the eyes of the crew. "No, I don't have - I wouldn't, it's not like that I would never try to steal-" Now that word choice made eyebrows rise "-listen I'm not a homewrecker and he _couldn't_ and I wouldn't ask that of him and... and, and you are not talking about that at all, are you? I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?"

"I asked," with warning in Leon's voice, "What are your intentions with His Royal Highness Prince Arthur?"

"Oh my god." Merlin fights off the urge to hide his face, barely. Was the denotation of that wording different in this time? He could have sworn... "I just want to keep him alive, ok? It's nothing _weird!"_

Others cut in:

"Obviously," says Kay, "The lying sorcerer is using misdirection to distract you from getting a real answer to your question." 

"Mm," piped in Eralt with a sage nod, "You know I've heard that the fair folk are incapable of lying, so they perfect obfuscation."

"He's not a fairy; he's a sorcerer."

Eralt's bit back a retort, but it's so clear on his face that he may as well have just said it. 

Leon holds up a hand, and they shut up. Though the surprise of that does not erase Merlin's embarrassment, it does cut it off enough for him to stop unconsciously trying to disappear into a little ball. Merlin is at least a little impressed with the display, since he never recalled Leon having the power of presence; in fact he remembered him more as the self-proclaimed "only adult here" which for the record does _not_ make him seem like an adult."Your intentions." Leon tries again.

"Um, well." Merlin looks at a wall. His eyes move from the wall to the ceiling to the floor before waveringly looking Leon in the eyes. When he answers, it comes out with a defeatist's tone. "I just want to spend time with him."

"Why?" Leon crosses his arms and levels a glare that says he does not believe Merlin's answer one bit and is only giving a _sorcerer_ the benefit of the doubt for Arthur's sake. "What do you gain?"

Merlin let out a breath. How could things have gone so wrong already? Well, he knows how. Still, it stings. "...I miss him."

"You never knew him!" cut in Eralt once again at the same time Kay adds, "Why say that in the present tense?"

"Guys, trust me, it would take forever to explain."

Leon crosses his arms and holds his ground. "We have time, and we don't trust you."

Merlin throws up his hands. "Ok fine so it really wouldn't take forever to explain but I doubt you'd believe me if I told you." 

"Try me," Leon ~~says~~ **orders** in a level voice. "One day you pick a fight with him, say you'd never be friends with "such an ass" I think it was, and then were subdued immediately and thrown in a cell to my knowledge."

Merlin nods. "Uh huh."

"Care to explain?"

"I'm telling you," Oh dear that is a nervous smile. Is this why Arthur used to call him "shifty"? "You won't believe it."

" **Talk."**

"Jesus fuck!" Merlin jumps. "I want a lawyer." Of course he's not scared so much as... "I know you won't get that joke, this time I had to make it for my own personal satisfaction. Thank you for breaking the tension." No knights nor squires present are comfortable with that breaking tension. Eralt in particular is nodding to himself, ninety-nine parts of a hundred set certain of his theory that the wimpy mysterious stranger is indeed one of the fair folk and has a strange and incomprehensible thought process. Merlin laughs a little and runs a hand through his hair, "Ok I'll talk, I'll talk. But please don't send me to the pyres when you decide I'm lying."

Kay knew reverse psychology before it was cool. "He's saying all this so we DO believe him." Smarter than he acts, but still so wrong. 

"Ok, here goes. Hold for anticipation and - ! The Merlin you met the other day was my actual first meeting with Arthur. We can call him Merlin Classic if you like. I can be Merlin Prime. No reaction yet? Good, nice. So Merlin Classic hid his magic for his whole time in Camelot (for obvious reasons) and protected Arthur behind his back. Ah, I should say that I was his manservant all that time. Don't look shocked; neither of us wanted it when it happened." He pouts and as an aside adds, "Uther did that." Eyes went wide at the lack of respect for their King, indignant, but if they stopped Merlin now he may not finish his explanation, which was quickly turning both treasonous and fond. "Arthur is a bitch. And an ass. And a prat. And a cabbagehead. But he was my best friend, and I would go to any length for him."

"I even stopped him from legalizing magic once. It was a stupid decision, but at the time I thought I had to. -I can tell that story later if anyone wants.-" The fun os slipping out of his voice. They notice. He noticed that they noticed. He coughs and reorients himself. "I'm trying my best," was said under his breath. It was always true. "So yeah I considered it my purpose in life to look out for him, and we were all friends, and I hid my magic. That's how it was for over a decade. Then there was a war." He takes half a second for a steadying breath. Emotions are all jerks that come out of nowhere. "You get it. And so: when I found I had time travelled across my own timeline and essentially have taken the body of Merlin Classic, I vowed to myself to keep none of my secrets. The secrets of others is a grey area, and I'm still on the fence about just how much I should tell about a future if it is a future I intend to prevent. In the end, Arthur's safety is my top priority, so I'll rat if they become a threat..."

They? 

"But otherwise, just my secrets. And you asked, so I told you. No secrets. I doubt you believe any of that; if it helps my case, Arthur does. I did not enchant him for the record! I would never, I swear. Heads up," he throws in, looking like he swallowed back acid. (Maybe he did?) "A lady named Sophia will enchant him in maybe two months, if I haven't changed the timeline too much already. Well, she'll try at least, but I'm killing her on sight. Ugh. She tried to sacrifice him. I had to go save his fat ass and then convince him that I, his totally not-a-warlock manservant, knocked him out from behind and dragged him away from eloping. It wasn't a hard sell. He told me not to tell anyone." 

"Oops."

"Ah I was going somewhere with this, yeah? I was saying it's not an enchantment; I just proved I knew a bunch of personal details of his life, stuff he wouldn't share. Not that he is ever all too forthcoming with his feelings. Too much of a tough guy cool knight hero king for it. Arrogant, prideful _clot._ " He added that last part without it even realizing it. 

"So yeah. That's my story. I would love if we could all be friends again, especially you, Leon. You're the only member of The Round Table here yet. It'll be years before that group is formed, but it's, you guys, you guys were the best. And," he says without thinking, "You were the only one to survive. The end. What do you think?"

"Well that's," Leon isn't sure what that was, "Unsettling?" He turns to the others, cheating to his audience so as to not show Merlin his back, and outsources them. "Does anyone here find this story credible or incredible?"

"Blind vote," Merlin suggests. "Everyone close your eyes -"

"No!" shouts of the guys who Merlin still doesn't recognize. "Why would we all _close our eyes_ around YOU?!"

"Hmph. My bad. I guess that's one vote for not believing it." 

"Look," he entreats, pleading with his cutest, sweetest eyes. He turns in a sweep to give a chance for everyone to see. "Believe my reasons or not, but I'm not leaving. I won't, and you can't force me to. I care about protecting Arthur just like you. So please, can we just be friends?"

Merlin was only met with noncommittal grumbles and more wary looks. It was all very much a "mom said 'maybe' and that means no" situation. 

Merlin was fucked. For all his talk of not leaving, he grabs his stuff with a short, "Right," and retreats to the hall. He leans his forehead against the cool stone wall and feels his brain calming down. Of course it would be like this. Merlin KNEW! He should have known. He made his choice, No Hiding My Magic, and he knew there would be consequences. Still, the scorn of people he loves hurts, it really hurts. 

Gwen. Gwen is next. He swallows. Somehow this is more daunting than, well, writing his mother that letter. If Gwen hates him, he decides, he will literally shoot himself in the head with a glock and lie on the floor for days until his brain repairs itself. He half means it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gahhh I guess too-short chapters to kick myself out of procrastinating is my thing now. I have legit not looked at my inbox yet for fear of people saying they look forward to an update. I guess I can go through them now, but this length of time between updates was unacceptable, and I hope I do better.
> 
> P.S. Gaius and Merlin out will most likely be told in a meme chapter rather than a chapter chapter. Unless there is popular opinion for a bonus chapter to be a chapter chapter.


	4. Prelude to The Rejection of Morgana (or: Gwen, like everyone else, is having A Day)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though Merlin desperately wants friends, there is one person who he has been avoiding... the one who is desperately trying to be [i]his[/i] friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had all these scenes in my head for long but goddamnit I just couldn't figure out how to arrange them. I'm still unsatisfied. I will never be satisfied. Edit: totally forgot that this chapter is only one of those scene. This is referring to basically the whole rest of the episode.   
> Speaking of scenes in my head, I look forward to when I can write about Merlin's first encounter with Mordred in this timeline.

_The world lights a'fire wherever he steps._ These are the thoughts of Morgana Pendragon which she would not say aloud even if one were to press her thumbs. And yet it was true. _My heart believes it will go into arrest whenever he is near._ True that she has been positively infatuated ever since the incident that other night that was still all anyone could talk about. _He is the smoke of change to come - **a symbol**_. _Why is it Arthur who he protects?_

She knew that if she wanted to find Merlin, all she needed to do was follow Arthur. And so she had, hovering within the shadows for half a day. Yet he disappeared once more before she could speak to him every time; within an hour she realized this was intentional. When she stopped tailing Merlin through tailing Arthur, it was not to give up before sunset but to conclude it was time to switch tactics. And so she did. 

Gwen fidgets with her fingers and bites her lip, though she has not started talking a mile a minute yet, so Morgana figures that's a good sign. "My Lady, why the smithy?" Morgana is Gwen's master as well as her best friend. If she wanted to speak to Gwen in private, they could have done so within the castle walls with the door closed. To avoid spying to the point of saying they should move the conversation to Gwen's own home, this subject must not be personal but _dangerous._ Given current events, Gwen already knows what her lady is about to bring up.

"I figure this is where he'll come next." It's a conspiratorial whisper that makes Gwen flex her hands and shut her eyes.

"Do you intend to protect me?" She tries to sound even in tone.

Morgana frowns imperceptibly and shakes her head. "I would just like to meet him. Perhaps when he comes, you could introduce us? May I hide in the back room until then?"

"My Lady," Gwen stammers. "I..." She gapes, thrown through a loop at that. Just like Arthur, Morgana is entirely fine with Merlin! Friendly! Had he done something to them both? If he has enchanted Morgana, Gwen will kill him herself. Well no. Of course she wouldn't. Both won't and couldn't. And that scared her, too. Gwen clears her throat and finds her words. "No, I do not think that is a wise decision, My Lady. I mean no disrespect and speak only out of concern for your safety." 

"He wouldn't hurt me."

"How can you say that with such conviction? Neither of us know that."

"Well from where I'm standing," Morgana says with a bitter frostbite, "He's afraid of me."

Afraid? Afraid of Morgana? Ha! Yes, her lady could be intimidating if she liked, but this man who she thought was nice and kind and brave at first only proved himself to be reckless and violent. If he could confidently walk the citadel and pay the King no mind, then clearly standing up to Arthur was not out of bravery but because the man literally has no fear. He is probably so confident in his skills that no one feels like a threat. Like he could set a'fire anyone who touches his skin. _The world burns beneath the soles of his boots._ Perhaps her fear came from logic through the lens of the rhabdophobic culture she was raised in, or perhaps it just hurt her trust to find out the boy from the plaza wasn't who he said he was; perhaps she felt deceived, and honesty and trust mean an awful lot to Gwen. Whatever the reason, her heart of her shoes, she stood in the smithy, not taking the news.

"Why would he be afraid of you?"

"Yes, that's what I'd like to know."

Gwen exhales sharply through her teeth. "Right." She centers herself. What can she possibly do in this situation? She would never say this if it weren't for her friend's own good. "How long do you plan to wait here? If I don't get back to work, I will be in trouble."

Morgana smirks. "I already thought of that, of course, and had you cleared with the head steward. You are my lady's maid first, after all. He has no right to refuse if I say I need you for an outing all day."

Of course she did. Of course! 

"Morgana, I really am worried..."

"I know what you're doing Gwen, and you should practice more. I'll teach you." _After Merlin teaches me!_ She has so many questions for him. 

Gwen crumples inward. "Is there truly no way I can convince you?" 

"Well you could tell the guards on me," Morgana says sarcastically. Though she really shouldn't have, as Gwen is now considering just that. "No! No, don't you dare." What would be worse for Morgana in Gwen's mind: Uther's house arrest, or exposure to the seemingly-sweet but ultimately unpredictable Merlin? "You wouldn't."

Gwen straightens. "...I might."

Morgana's face flares red and she turns away with a scowl. "Never! Don't you ever turn me in to Uther!"

"Fine, I won't! I promise. But I'm not introducing you. Frankly, I do not want him in my house, and you being so certain that he will come for a visit makes _me_ feel unsafe."

Well that drained 80% of the anger fast. "Sorry..." Morgana lowers her head in submission. "I... I apologize. You're right, of course. The idea of a man you do not know barging into your living quarters is scary, and I should have been sympathetic to that."

"Well... it's alright. As long as you understand."

"Would you like a room in the castle tonight?"

"He comes in through the castle windows every night," Gwen blurts out. Auurghhhh!

"Does he?"

" **Yes** _._ " _It's creepy._ "I don't know which place I'd rather be if he insists on talking to me anyways, though truthfully, I think you are wrong that he will seek me out. From what I've seen, he is only focused on Arthur.

"No, my intel says he is focused on you as well."

"Intel?"

"... Though it could have been wrong. I can't get to Arthur, so I've been asking the knights. There is a lot of misinformation to sort through, but Sir Henri found _this._ " From her fashion satchel she produces a torn piece of paper and bids Gwen closer to see it. "I have no way of knowing if it is really his, but here: you're listed.

**_\- win over Gwen so I don't have to ~~literally~~ figuratively die _ **

"Oh my god." Gwen's voice dropped half an octave in shock. _He's a stalker. You're a stalker. You're stalking a stalker._ Gwen, sweetest being on Earth, being judgmental is an inherent contradiction - virtually impossible. Especially if it came to Morgana, the loveliest person she has ever known. Still, this time... it was close. 

_Today is already far too exhausting and I have yet to even start on the laundry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew early on that I would have Morgana really want to get close to Merlin and even idolize him, because he is her first encounter with good magic, but have Merlin not want the same. Her having a crush was a much more recent idea based on that Gwen had a crush on Merlin in the very early episodes of the show
> 
> for this chapter, I had to look up the word for a fear of magic. rhabdophobia. no I don't know how to pronounce it either
> 
> You know I didn't set out here to make Morgana/Gwen a teased ship in this fic, but I think it's what happened. If I make that mistake consistently, I will have to ditch my Gwen/Lance plans, won't I? Would only be fair


	5. The Tools at Our Disposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camelot's chain of command is just me copying the U.S. Military's and sayin I'll change the answers a bit so the teacher won't notice. Finally a chapter of good length!

We open in Arthur's bedroom, the two guards still with him in this supposedly private space. One leans on the wall by the door while the other sits by Arthur and has taken to leaning toward him to read over his shoulder. "Stop that, would you?" Arthur grits out. He doesn't even like studying, but it's better than staring at the ceiling. "You are far too close."

The guard grunts. "Apologies, my lord. The King has ordered we stay close."

"Not this close!" he snaps. His patience is really wearing thin. "There is no reason for you to be close enough to touch me! What rank are you?"

"E-3 B, your Highness," the guard answers on instinct.

"Are all of Beta stripe this poorly trained? Shall I have a word with Sir Loess?"

Clearly the guard knows better than to talk back to the _Prince,_ so he just collapses onto the floor instead.

"OH MY GOD!" Both. Both of them are on the ground. Arthur wastes no time in checking for pulses. He knows who did this. "Merlin! Come out here, you coward!"

The callous sorcerer hops through the doorway, the nerve of him to come in with such a happy-go-lucky smile! "What?" he ribs, "That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"No this is not _what I wanted._ Are you _insane?!"_

"Yes." He gives the fallen men a once-over and purses his lips. "I thought you already knew that. And it is exactly what you wanted. Anyways, they're just asleep. As long as no one hit their head it's no harm done."

"What?" He looks from the heavy bodies to Merlin's smiling face and back again. "What? No. What? You are INSANE!"

"And again," Merlin nods slowly as if Arthur is the stupid one, "We've long since established that. Anywhose-" He claps his hands together and crosses into the room and sits cross-legged on the floor by Arthur's bed, much like he was the other night. "You deserve a break, and I want to talk to you. Want to learn about magic?"

"No."

"Yes, you do."

" _No!"_ Is it just ignore-everything-the-prince-says day across the board?

Merlin pouts, and for a split second Arthur feels horror with himself - not for putting that pout there; it's just catching up to him how quickly he lets go of dangerous, ridiculous, frankly illegal acts whenever he does that. Merlin looks at him. He swirls a finger in the air to a little tune only he can hear, and tiny decorative sparks start falling out of the swirl. Arthur can't even be angry. It's like he used up all his incredulity on the guards dropping and hasn't any left. The most he can can only muster is... annoyed. "You haven't actually enchanted me, right?" Bone, bone-deep annoyed.

"Ew!" A stronger spark flings out as Merlin loses concentration, shocked back with revulsion. "No! No no! I promise. I swear. Absolutely not. Were you talking to Leon? Love po......." His wind-up lapses into silent reflection. He is slow to declare, and visibly awed: "You were joking."

Arthur crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow to that, "Mostly, yes."

"See, perfect example. This is why I should teach you about magic. You can't fight an enemy you know nothing about. My shield isn't a snake shield -"

"The tournament was cancelled because of you -"

"- so learning to take down mine wouldn't help you against snake venom, is my point. You'd have to learn about _his_ shield."

"Or I could just beat him."

"Now you're being difficult on purpose!"

"Gee, I wonder what dealing with that is like."

Merlin throws his hands up and points to one of the collapsed guards. "Listen, your babysitters will wake up in one hour exactly. When they come to, to them it will feel as if they just spaced out momentarily instead of sleeping and waking up, so if you just get them off the floor, they won't notice anything even happened." He swivels to (dramatically) point back at Arthur. "Now. You can either hang out with me and watch me commit crimes a bit - OR I could just wake them out _right now_."

"Ah!" Arthur's hand goes to his chest as if he were clutching pearls. "Are you _threatening_ me?"

"Hmph. I most certainly am, My Lord. And I'll go through with it."

Arthur shrugs in acceptance. "Yeah, sure, ok." 

Merlin rocks up onto one knee and back down again, fist pumping over and over. "Hell yeah!"   
  


To Arthur's own ears, his acceptance sounds entirely too nonchalant. It's not as if Merlin is a soothing figure either. About the farthest thing from a soothing figure he could think of, though not in the ways he would have thought to think of before meeting the man himself. But the way Merlin shows Arthur the utmost trust? Arthur feels the compulsion to match it. And the way Merlin has the dumbest adventure ideas? He feels the need to match that, too. Every conversation he has with Merlin, it's like there's another little him trapped on a dissociated 3rd perspective, pointing out to him all the ways he _should_ be reacting and ostensibly banging his head against a wall when main Arthur instead says, _'Fine, but I'm not covering for you if the rope breaks.'_  
  


They sit down at the spot on the floor that they've grown accustomed to being the spot on the floor that they sit every night, and Merlin pulls out a spiral notebook and a pen from storage and flips to a worn page of notes transcribed from an even older notebook several times over, glittery blue ink detailing some of Merlin's findings from trail and error.

_**"Aurem de terre"** _

Merlin's eyes glow gold, and Arthur watches on with a blank expression as flakes of matching metal start manifesting from nothing in Merlin's outstretched hand. The twisted flakes gather and form together, moving and reconnecting as easily as if it were molten. It shifts with him as he moves his fingers. Merlin lets it harden into one form and then drops it on the ground. 

Arthur's nonreaction seems to bother Merlin a bit. He looks over to Arthur and pulls some of that extra thin paper he has loads of from the air and hands it over with a meaningful look. Arthur catches up. "You expect me to take notes." 

"Hmph. You don't seem to be paying attention."

"You haven't said anything of value yet." He pointedly does not take the offered paper. "I doubt you ever will."

"You're the worst." He eyes flash gold once more and he holds out his hand again. "Listen up. _**Aurem de terre."**_ With a command to the Earth, Merlin's words become truth, and more gold grows. "Being able to conjure like this isn't a normal sorcerer thing. Conjuring is typically more like transmuting for other professionals." He looks down to check his notes for something or other. "Fire and water seem to be the basis of what can be made from truly nothing, with a few exceptions that are in a different lesson altogether, but generally you need something to make something, even if to the person making it the trade sounds unequal." He takes a pause to look wistful, "Or unfair," and looks back at Arthur with a serious expression. "The Laws of the Olde Religion fit in almost identical to The Law of Equivalent Exchange. I once got a restraining order from a mangaka because she just. Got too many things right."

Merlin's lighthearted tone of voice suggests this is a funny story, but his eyes are glowering. Arthur coughs and brings them back on whatever track they are meant to be on. "So you can make unlimited metal because you're Emrys, the most powerful sorcerer or whatever, yeah?" It works.

Merlin goes right back into his teaching voice, his smile blinding at being asked a _question._ "Well, yes, but that's reductive. Like I said, I'm not just in tune with magic; I'm a part of it. Magic is part of the earth, and magic is a part of me, so if the Earth can do it, so can I. Make sense?"

"And others can't because their magic is weaker, yes I got it."

"One day, my liege, I will murder you. And then I will be at peace."

"Should you murder me, _I'll_ be at peace, and you'll be stuck waiting face down in the gutter for another fifteen hundred years."

"Touché. So, my lesson."

"You are an awful tutor."

"Oh trust me, I know. Hold this." Merlin gives Arthur the chunk of gold, and to his credit, Arthur does raise an eyebrow. "Aha. Tell me what you've noticed."

Arthur squeezes it, testing what he felt. It bends slightly with even a small touch. "It's malleable."

"Excellent! Now why is it malleable? That's because what I've made is pure gold. The true element right off the periodic table. That doesn't exist in nature, and it _does_ exist in retail. Gold in the ground will always have impurities, and through future technology, you can get them out. That's beside the point. The point is I can't make alloys from nothing, and that can be... very frustrating. But here's thing!" He grabs his notebook and flips through the pages before stopping at one and point triumphantly. "Read that. Wait, no, it's written in Arabic. I _can_ make alloys, theoretically, but I don't. I want you to ask me why."

Arthur rolls his eyes. "Why?"

"Because if I want a pure element, magic gets that. It's easy. But if I want, say, steel, what is magic to do with that? What kind of carbon should it be using? And how much? Should a second metal be used in concert, or just iron? How many goddamn electrons? You want to go atomic? We can go atomic. Sometimes you have no choice. And therein lies the danger. If I try to make an alloy, if I'm not entirely specific down to the last detail in my head, if I lose concentration for even one second, it's done. And there are consequences in that. If I'm lucky, it's just a wasted project. If I get lucky, it may just blow up in my face the way improperly smelting would and kill me for a little bit. But if I'm wrong, we could have a nuclear situation. When it comes to that, the absolute worst case scenario is I accidentally make a bomb."

"Let me tell you about weaponry of the future. In 1945, two such bombs were used intentionally. Each took out the population equivalent of a duchy - hundreds of thousands of people. What's more, those who survived were poisoned for generations, so the death toll didn't stop right there. Last time I was before coming back here, there were enough nuclear weapons in the world to destroy the whole planet several times over. The conceit is they are for intimidation alone, because everyone knows that if there were a nuclear war, no one would win. But I've, I've seen a lot. I've been around a lot, experienced a lot of shocks. People mistake my anxiety for cynicism."

"And you should see how far biowarfare has come! You don't need people who already have smallpox to infect an enemy anymore. You can make your own custom strain. How fun is that? Still uncontrollable and unpredictable and such an inhumane idea that they've been internationally outlawed. I don't buy it for a second. Why would that stop anyone desperate? I'm not a misanthrope; there is so much worth fighting for in the world and always will be. But all it takes is a few terrible people in power getting **desperate.** I couldn't tell you why when it comes to great power, the majority of people who have it no matter where or when you go are so cruel, but God help us all when they get desperate."  
  


"...Merlin?" Arthur asks, tentatively. "What does any of that have to do with magic?"

Merlin is quaking, near hyperventilating. He's found that he's once again curling up into a ball.

"Sorry," he says at length. "I was going to have this moment where I say, 'Magic can be a sword, or it could be a chair,' and mold the gold into little models as I said it. The point was going to be that magic is a technology like any other." He curls up smaller. "...It got away from me. ...Nuclear power is used for more than just bombs. Controlled settings are good. ...I only test that stuff on Mars. I can't take you to Mars; you'll die." The energy behind his nonsensical rants looks pulled out of him.

Arthur punches him.

"Ow!"

He puts him in a headlock and noogies him hard enough to lose brain cells.

"Ow, stop!"

"Stop being sad then."

"I can't just _stop_ being sad."

Arthur tightens his hold. Merlin gasps and chokes. "Cheer the fuck up, or I'll throw you in the stocks for a week."

Merlin coughs and struggles. "Hah... missed... gah, eckhh... missed this."

Arthur bears down harder half a moment more to drive the point home and then releases him. "Missed that, did you?"

"Phew, whew, oh boy... hah... ow. Owww." Merlin rubs his head while Arthur has the audacity to look nothing but smug and accomplished. "Things really get romanticized when you look back at them. I get now why Merlin Classic had mixed feelings when you tried to comfort him."

Arthur's smirk only grows more shit-eating. "Must have worked, though."

"Yeah," Merlin breathes, "It did."

He smiles at Arthur so big his eyes crinkle and for his trouble is graced with the familiar: "That's better."

...

"So when you were saying all that stuff about powerful people becoming desperate, were you talking about my father?"

Merlin's eyes widen. "Fuck!"

"H-hey, get back here! You can't just run away when I've asked you a question!"

But Merlin is already one foot on the window sill, prepared to jump if he has no time to climb. "Your sister's at the door." And with that, he disappears.

_Fucking Jesus shit for brains lousy worthless sorcerer!_

"Is he still here?" The door bangs open with the urgency of a fire. "He was just here, I know it! Where is he? Is he invisible again? Arthur, talk!"

Arthur springs up at her intensity. Well. He still has half an hour of the guards being out of commission.

"Look, he dropped another note earlier. Most of it is entirely crossed out, but look at this part."

Arthur reads over her shoulder the only words on a scrap of paper that's mainly a spiral of ink:

 **Commanding Officer Leoss: traitor, embellisher, general piece of shit  
Epicenter of growing rumor that Arthur is not the true heir to the crown but an adoptive fraud after the baby died with Igraine  
Method: eugenic rhetoric, instilling mistrust, impressionable subordinates  
Motive: ???  
 _Possible_ Motives:  
\- His name sounds French  
\- Early groundwork for staging a coup, but fuck if I know how that would benefit him  
\- Build loyalty and trust through a strawman common enemy; other knights = nobility allies  
** **Evidence: Anecdotal at best** **  
**

"That's his handwriting, right?" She pulls out a stack of similar scraps, seemingly all notes and to do lists. _He just leaves these around?_ Arthur is STUNNED. "I know right?" says Morgana, completely misreading Arthur's look of disbelief. She briefly holds all the notes to her chest.

"Ok. You've lost me."

"Your guards are out cold. I have eyes. Either Merlin did that - proof that he was just here - or _you_ knocked them out." Her smile is wicked where it was once dreamy. "Isn't that ever so interesting?"

She must be bluffing. "I don't recall you ever being a snitch, Morgana."

"Do you want to try me?"

"Yeah. I think I will. If Merlin jumps out a window to avoid you, I don't want to get involved in whatever," He gestures at her just- just in general, "This is."

Morgana's eyes widen. She speedwalks the four steps to the window and lets out a noise of indignant frustration seeing nothing there. "Goodbye, Arthur" is all she says as she walks out the door.

...

 _Whatever_ that _was..._

Arthur sighs and figures he might as well get to work on hefting his possibly-treasonous nursemaids into position for when they wake up. He probably has, what, a good ten-twenty minutes of peace and solitude?

 _Merlin and Morgana, huh?_ He takes off his shoes and reclines back on his bed. _A snake would sooner die of its own venom._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, see the joke is that magic is a tool, and so are our idiot main characters. Get it? I.. I'm losing my touch with these titles.
> 
> re: "Yeah that would be a bomb-ass twist, like if Gaius turned out to be evil. I'd die." I would like to remind everyone once more that Merlin has never been the same since he watched Clueless (1995) in theaters.
> 
> Was this chapter good? Was it not? I don't know anymore. I legit can't tell. Does that mean it's, perish, MEDIOCRE? I hope it's not that and is just that my brain is kind of turning to mush with all these papers past due. (I'm doomed. My professors are kinder and more generous than should ever be expected, and I'm still doomed.)


End file.
